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1 – 10 of 23Millennials are a vital generational cohort of the Indian population, and understanding their motivation to participate in the stock market is crucial. This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Millennials are a vital generational cohort of the Indian population, and understanding their motivation to participate in the stock market is crucial. This study aims to understand the investment decision-making behavior among millennials in the Indian Stock Market.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross-sectional research design that entails in-depth personal interviews, this study aims to understand the equity investment behavior of millennials. Verbatim texts from interview transcripts were used to analyze the content and arrive at themes.
Findings
The study investigated the motivation to enter the stock market and gained insights into how individuals make equity investment decisions considering economic and behavioral dimensions. The basis for stock selection was predominantly on the self-analysis of investors. Multiple stock selection priorities are also discussed. In addition, informants ensured asset diversification and exercised various strategies to overcome emotions. Furthermore, they suffered from various behavioral biases.
Practical implications
Individual investors are the least informed and most impacted stakeholders in the stock markets; therefore, this study contributes fresh insights to enhance their financial security. The paper also examines some noticeable behavioral tendencies retail investors exhibit and gathers helpful strategies for mitigating behavioral biases.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of the research lies in its adoption of a qualitative methodology that uses the investment experience of millennial investors to reveal the components of decision-making behavior and investor psychology. The findings are thereby unique and have significant managerial implications.
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Brad McKenna, Wenjie Cai and Hyunsun Yoon
Research into older adults' use of social media remains limited. Driven by increasing digitalisation in China, the authors focus on Chinese older adults (aged 60–75)’ use of…
Abstract
Purpose
Research into older adults' use of social media remains limited. Driven by increasing digitalisation in China, the authors focus on Chinese older adults (aged 60–75)’ use of WeChat.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a qualitative interpretive approach and interviewed Chinese older adults to uncover their social practices of WeChat use in everyday life.
Findings
By using social practice theory (SPT), the paper unfolds Chinese older adults' social practices of WeChat use in everyday life and reveals how they adopt and resist the drastic changes in Chinese society.
Originality/value
The study contributes to new understandings of SPT from technology use by emphasising the dynamic characteristics of its three elements. The authors synthesise both adoptions and resistance in SPT and highlight the importance of understanding three elements interdependently within specific contexts, which are conditioned by structure and agency.
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Athanasios Michalis, Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos, Apostolos Papadopoulos and Vassiliki Costarelli
The study aims to have adults discuss experiences, practices needs and feelings related to health management, diet and food security.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to have adults discuss experiences, practices needs and feelings related to health management, diet and food security.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 22 immigrants were recruited from the Open School of Immigrants in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, to participate in focus group discussions. The discussions were audio recorded and thematically analyzed. Three major themes were developed: pathways to health care, nutrition management and experiences related to food shortages.
Findings
Most of the participants identified internet as the most commonly used way to obtain health advice; they also stated that unexpected ill-health is usually accompanied by feelings of fear, anxiety and loneliness. Immigrants, who had visited a public hospital in Greece, identified the language barrier as the most challenging issue, followed by the long waiting lists. Fear and anxiety of hospital visits was an important factor in their decision to vaccinate against COVID-19. Lack of time, high cost of healthy food and lack of knowledge were the most common obstacles to a healthy diet. One in two immigrants reported that they have faced food insecurity issues in the past. Stress, psychological distress and irritation were reported, due to food shortages, especially during the first few years of arriving in Greece. The exclusion of some foods, reduced portion sizes and buying cheaper foods were among the coping strategies to address food shortages.
Originality/value
The study offers an insight into immigrant’s experiences, practices and feelings about managing health issues and could be useful for health-care practitioners, researchers and policymakers.
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Elina Erzikova and Diana Martinelli
The purpose of this paper is to examine US public relations professionals' perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with the concept of moral entrepreneurship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine US public relations professionals' perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with the concept of moral entrepreneurship, defined as the purposeful process of changing or creating new institutionalized ethical norms. This study argues that the concept of moral entrepreneurship provides organizations with a potentially valuable framework to actively recognize societal pressures and problems and act accordingly to better the environment in which the organization resides and operates.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study uses purposive in-depth interviews with 25 diverse public relations professionals, who represented communication firms, in-house public relations departments, higher education, nonprofits and government.
Findings
Respondents assigned a high value to the concept of moral entrepreneurship: In addition to its being viewed as the right thing to do, they recognized its practice as a way to help organizations recruit and retain employee talent and improve stakeholder trust. However, based on the interviews, organizational leadership is the primary initiator of ethical changes; therefore, without a seat at the management table, practitioners lack the influence to initiate such new organizational directions and take on the role of moral entrepreneurs only when directed to do so by their superiors. Barriers to adopting a moral entrepreneurship approach included a limited budget and shortage of staff, employees' resistance to change, fear of failure, poor leadership and a politically polarized workplace.
Practical implications
Practice implications include considerations for furthering moral entrepreneurship in organizations.
Originality/value
This study is the first to explore the applicability of the concept of moral entrepreneurship in public relations. The paper underscores the need for further discussion around novel approaches to ethics in public relations that go beyond simple compliance with professional codes and industry standards and that help organizations lead societal change.
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This qualitative study set within Northern Ireland aims to explore professional perspectives on the application of evidence-informed practice to the adult safeguarding threshold…
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study set within Northern Ireland aims to explore professional perspectives on the application of evidence-informed practice to the adult safeguarding threshold screening process.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was gathered from seven social workers in one health and social care trust area, who perform the designated adult protection role, through individual semi-structured interviews in one region of Northern Ireland. The interview schedule comprised of a series of questions examining the role of the designated adult protection officer and included three vignettes (Appendix). A thematic analysis was undertaken using NVIVO software.
Findings
This paper reports main findings under the themes of: the role of the designated adult protection officer, threshold decision-making, evidence-informed practice and service improvement. One of the main findings was that professionals viewed the current process as too bureaucratic, and there was a desire to engage in more preventive safeguarding in collaboration with service users. There was a need to promote awareness of evidence-informed practice as it applies to the threshold screening process. Furthermore, the study raised the question of the need to consider the application of models or methods of assessment to the threshold screening process.
Originality/value
This in-depth exploration of the role of designated adult protection officers in Northern Ireland provides a valuable insight into the complexity involved in managing adult safeguarding referrals and investigations. This study adds to the existing knowledge base, identifies potential service improvements and highlights the gap in evidence-based practice as it applies to the threshold screening process. Threshold screening of adult safeguarding referrals remains a subjective process and is open to interpretation and differences in professional judgement. The study highlights the need to consider the application of quality improvement methodology to the threshold screening assessment and the need to promote the exchange of safeguarding knowledge.
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Shobod Deba Nath, Gabriel Eweje and Suborna Barua
The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Findings
The authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.
Research limitations/implications
Social sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.
Practical implications
The evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.
Originality/value
The authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.
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Irina de la Flor, Maria Sarabia, Fernando Crecente and Maria Teresa del Val
This study seeks to enhance productivity, motivation and well-being of workers by improving decision-making processes. Using inner knowledge management (IKM), this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to enhance productivity, motivation and well-being of workers by improving decision-making processes. Using inner knowledge management (IKM), this study aims to identify, manage and transform unconscious beliefs and negative emotions that limit decision-making processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used is empirical research, analyzing multiple cases qualitatively and using the T-test statistical model to analyze the hypotheses. The study tests the relation between different limiting beliefs and negative emotions that influence decision-making processes.
Findings
This study shows that IKM is positively related to the productivity, motivation and well-being of workers.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to workers who are mentally healthy, who work in teams and who seek professional help to achieve their goals.
Practical implications
The results indicate that there is a lot of potential to be explored applying IKM in companies and organizations. Specifically, this study proves that there are several inner knowledge assets that constrain the workers’ potential and therefore affect the efficiency of businesses.
Social implications
The results have strong implications for how companies and organizations can create great value for themselves and their workers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first data-based study using an IKM model. The importance of this study opens the door to further exploration of the effects on IKM on productivity, motivation and the general well-being of workers.
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Juma James Masele and Elia Daud
This study aims to assess the sources of COVID-19 information respondents relied for COVID-19 pandemic information access and use, forms of misinformation and their influence on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the sources of COVID-19 information respondents relied for COVID-19 pandemic information access and use, forms of misinformation and their influence on COVID-19 vaccine uptake hesitancy among frontline workers.
Design/methodology/approach
A Google Form developed questionnaire, distributed conveniently through link shared through WhatsApp groups was used to collect data from frontline workers from Dar es Salaam and Dodoma cities. Analysis was done using a binary regression analysis.
Findings
It was found that it was not the source that mattered for one to be hesitancy or not on COVID-19 vaccination, but the extent to which the information the source channels was manipulated or false.
Research limitations/implications
Relying only Google Form questionnaire sent through a link on WhatsApp may have compromised the quality of information gathered and the quality of conclusion. Another study may have conducted through researcher administered questionnaire to a bigger sample to increase conclusion reliability and validity.
Practical implications
This study urges that to increase the COVID-19 vaccine uptake, it is important to ensure that the quality of information from the revealed dependable sources is checked to avoid possible consequential disquiet resulting from misinformation.
Originality/value
As the world is striving toward combating the COVID-19 or at least lessening its effects, this paper is of its own kind, using the theory of informative fictions to guide the assessment of the sources of information and the extent to which they influence misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine uptake hesitancy.
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Ilse Matser, Jelle Bouma and Erik Veldhuizen
Family farms, in which business and family life are intricately interwoven, offer an interesting context for better understanding the interdependence between the family and…
Abstract
Purpose
Family farms, in which business and family life are intricately interwoven, offer an interesting context for better understanding the interdependence between the family and business system. Many family farms struggle to survive, and the succession process is a key period in which the low returns on investment become evident but also the emotional attachment of the family to the farm and the willingness to transfer the business to the next generation. We take the perspective of non-succeeding siblings since they are crucial for a successful succession but their role and position in this process is far from clear. This study will help to increase our knowledge of how fairness is perceived by non-successors and of the impact of perceived (in)justice on the family business system.
Design/methodology/approach
To analyze the effect on sibling relationships of an unequal outcome of the succession process, we choose the family farm context. We used interview data from multiple family members from several family farms in the Netherlands in different stages of succession. We utilized a framework based on justice theory to analyze perceptions of fairness among non-succeeding siblings. The central research question for this study is as follows: How do non-succeeding siblings perceive justice with regard to family firm succession?
Findings
The acceptance of the outcomes of the succession process by non-succeeding siblings is influenced by their perception of the fairness of the process itself and decisions made by the incumbent and successor with regard to these outcomes. It seems that stakeholders who occupy multiple roles with conflicting justice perspectives handle these contradictions with the help of an overarching goal—in this study, preserving the continuity of the family farm—and by prioritizing and adjusting the justice perspectives accordingly. The findings further show that both distributive justice and procedural justice are important and interact with each other.
Originality/value
Our study contributes to the literature by applying the theoretical framework of distributive and procedural justice to the context of family farm succession. This helps us to understand the position of non-succeeding siblings and their role and position in the succession process, which is important because sibling relationships have a significant impact on family harmony, with potential consequences for the business as well.
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Toby Gledhill, William Swan and Richard Fitton
This paper aims to focus on the assessment of a domestic property's energy performance status by a domestic energy assessor (DEA), to ascertain the possible underlying reasons for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the assessment of a domestic property's energy performance status by a domestic energy assessor (DEA), to ascertain the possible underlying reasons for variability in the results of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). By variability, the authors mean discrepancies in assessment between different DEAs on similar properties. This is important because the uses for the EPC have been extended beyond their original function as an asset rating system, to include themes encompassing building policy decisions, building performance and the distribution of incentives and grants. Consequently, inaccuracies in EPC reporting will have a greater impact than may have been the case at the outset.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study approach involving the conducting of semi-structured interviews with 20 practicing DEAs was carried out, with transcribed recordings of the interview material subjected to thematic analysis. This formed part of a wider mixed methods study.
Findings
The results identify a wide range of underlying reasons for variability driven by issues in both practice and process, including conflicts of interests, the EPC auditing process, the default inputting of missing data by RdSAP where information may not be available/discoverable by the DEA, the quality and perception of EPCs and DEA training and experience.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size of 20 is by definition limiting, and it is possible that different results would have been obtained from a different sample. Although thematic saturation from the analysis of the responses on the key question of whether EPCs are considered variable does mitigate this. The respondents were all in possession of five years or more experience and of carrying out EPCs for different purposes. Less experienced DEAs may inevitably have responded to questions differently. The thematic analysis gives the researcher control over the presentation of the results, and it is noted that this creates a potential for bias. The researcher is immersed in the world of construction and property, with regular contact with DEAs and EPCs, which may influence the perspective of the results.
Practical implications
The research identifies risks to the accuracy of EPCs. To this end, and with the specific research findings in mind, this research may be of interest to construction professionals with respect to EPC practice and procurement, to the Accrediting Bodies who audit EPCs, to the creators of RdSAP with respect to automated EPC inputs, to academics either at face value or for use in further research and to policy makers who may wish to consider RdSAP data in future with qualifiers or margins of error, or may even look to review the EPC as the instrument of choice for some applications.
Originality/value
There is much literature analysing the shortcomings and nuances of RdSAP results, and the software model that generates the EPC, but only very limited literature extending the discussion about RdSAP to its operator: the DEA. At the time of writing, there is no literature focusing directly on the DEA and its role within the EPC production process. Their role is more important now, given the expanding use of EPCs, and increased reliance on EPC data.
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